How to separate an action and a stock that is bedded together

[Hornhunter32]

Many years ago I had a gunsmith bed the action on my Rem 700 BDL. He bedded my action and my barrel to my stock, but he didn't use any release compound. I have no idea why he would bed my barrel, but he did. He now lives in TX and I live in ND. How do I get them apart without wrecking the stock?

 

[royinidaho]

That's gonna be tough.....really tough.

Try overnight in the freezer than one of those heavy plastic lead filled thumper hammers.

Be careful.............

 

[eddybo]

Is the barrel bedded full length? If so the freezer is your best bet. The other direction is heat. It is going to be difficult to get even heating of the compound to get that out without busting it out. I have used an electric iron once to break an action out. I also used a heated brass rod inserted in place of the bolt. I have no idea how you could evenly heat everything to a temperature high enough to break it out.

 

[fj40mojo]

Many years ago I had a gunsmith bed the action on my Rem 700 BDL. He bedded my action and my barrel to my stock, but he didn't use any release compound. I have no idea why he would bed my barrel, but he did. He now lives in TX and I live in ND. How do I get them apart without wrecking the stock?

No help, I'm just flabbergasted at some of the people that call themselves "gunsmith"

 

[Trickymissfit]

benchrest shooters often glue the action into the stock, and they will put the whole thing in a freezer for a few days before trying to break it apart. Brother in law did the samething with a 22 rimfire a few years back, and couldn't get it apart. I had him put it in my freezer for about four or five days. broke loose with some light taps from a mallet.
gary

 

[Fitch]

Yikes! No release and bedded full length including the barrel. That's unforgivable.

I've never done this, but possibly the least risky approach is to freeze it at least overnight (in ND you could just leave it on the back porch in the winter - maybe get it "really" cold), the colder the better - then use some sort of an action pulling tool, probably home made with a jacking screw, to put pressure on the action and a plastic dead blow hammer on the barrel end. The combination of the pull and the shock may work.

You might be able to pack it in dry ice in a cobbled up foam cooler for 4 or 5 hours to get it well and truly frozen if we are too far into spring to do it on the back porch.

If it freezing doesn't work, I'd try heat, but frankly the metal meeds to be heated to 250F to 300F, or maybe even 350F to significantly weaken the epoxy and that may be hard to do with out damaging something. .

Fitch

 

[Hornhunter32]

It's bedded the entire length of the stock except for about the last three inches.

I did some research and the dry ice or the freezer method seems to be my best bet.

It just blows my mind that he did that. My dad gave me this rifle when I was ten years old and it means a lot to me, so I don't want to wreck anything while trying to get it apart.

Thanks for the advise guys.

Todd

 

[BwBrown]

I did a poor job of applying release agent once. (You soon learn!)

If the freezer doesn't work by itself, you can try to do a rapid temperature change with a heat gun. The beding is essentially an epoxy compound. Cold makes it brittle (several degrees below 0 cold) and heat makes it slightly soft - but watch for the stock finish with the heat.

If all else fails the last result, unfortunately, is a pocket knife.
Bob